Senate Republicans have begun the official process to invalidate Darth Biden’s vaccine mandate rule for private businesses:
FOX NEWS – All 50 Senate Republicans on Wednesday morning are expected to formally challenge the Biden administration’s vaccine rule for private businesses under the Congressional Review Act – the official process for Congress to eliminate an executive branch rule.
GOP Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana will lead all 49 of his Senate Republican colleagues, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in moving to strike down the Biden administration’s rule which mandates employees at private businesses with 100 workers or more to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 or be subject to weekly testing and mask-wearing.
“President Biden’s vaccine mandate is an unconstitutional invasion of what should be a personal medical decision for every American and an affront to the rights of 80 million American workers,” Braun told Fox News. “Today, my Republican colleagues and I will formally challenge this federal overreach, and I urge the Senate to vote in favor of this disapproval resolution when it comes to the Floor for a filibuster-proof, simple-majority vote in early December.”
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) can be used by Congress to overturn certain federal agency regulations and actions through a joint resolution of disapproval. If a CRA joint resolution of disapproval is approved by both houses of Congress and signed by the president, or if Congress successfully overrides a presidential veto, the rule at issue is invalidated.
The formal mandate was transmitted into the Federal Registry and to the Senate on Nov. 16, beginning a “20 day clock,” according to GOP aides, and setting the stage for a Senate floor vote as early as December.
During that 20-day period, the disapproval is reviewed in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. At the end of the 20 days, the formal disapproval will be eligible for a vote on the Senate floor — a vote that Braun will be responsible for scheduling.
With support from all 50 Republican senators, a GOP aide told Fox News that “just one Democratic defection” would pass the disapproval resolution in the Senate.
“If this level of support holds in the House, it would force President Biden to veto a disapproval resolution for his mandate that has already been under siege in the courts and the court of public opinion,” the aide told Fox News. “As President Biden tries to pass ‘transformational’ change through reconciliation with a simple majority vote, it would force him to veto a simple majority disapproval of his unconstitutional vaccine mandate for businesses.”
I think Senate Republicans will easily get at least one Democrat to vote on their resolution and I would expect it to be Manchin or Sinema. I would hope it’d be a lot more, but that remains to be seen. I can’t imagine Biden’s vaccine mandate is all that popular among Democrats.
Then it would have to pass the House and I think that’s a strong possibility. Biden would then veto the disapproval resolution, of course, which would optically be great and a sign to the courts that Biden’s mandate has been rejected by the House and Senate.
But overriding a veto in order to actually invalidate the rule seems a stretch too far. If it happened, that’d be fantastic. But I don’t think Braun and the other 49 Senate Republicans are under any illusion that would happen. I think they are content to force Biden to veto it in front of all of America.